Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Q: Challenges
by Obelisk Drakon
Summary: The continuation of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Quest. Red and his rival Blue have faced the boss of the enigmatic Team Rocket and barely gotten away with their lives. Now, they're on the hunt: both for the badges that will admit them to the Pokemon League, and for the evil Rocket boss himself. Rated T.
1. Chapter 0

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Q: Challenges

0

(-o-)

Celadon City. The gigantic buildings sprawled around me, as if tossed there by some gigantic titan in gleaming, orderly rows. Sunlight glared shamelessly off of a glass building and into my eyes, forcing me to pull my hat's brim down to ward the glare off.

There was a Gym here, and I knew it. It was the entire reason I was here, really, and I didn't want to waste any time finding it. I looked down to my Poke Balls as if for directions. My five loyal team members looked up at me blankly.

I smiled just the same. Unclipping each ball and looking at the Pokemon inside with a warm feeling buttering my heart. Charmeleon, its emerald eyes blazing with the fire of a hundred battles. Beedril, its needles sharp and ready to take out foes. Electabuzz, electricity zapping around the spherical home with ample ferocity. Mankey, bouncing on the balls of its feet and delivering punches to the unyielding air. Gloom, acid dripping out of its open mouth glumly. I laughed at the last, and clipped my Pokemon back onto the belt where they belonged.

I looked around the city again hopelessly. Where, in this maze of tall buildings, was one to find a Gym?

After a trip to the Department Store at the center of town, my bag was laden down with powerful Potions, strange and wonderful stones, dolls for warding off quarrelsome wild Pokemon, and soft drinks of every kind they had. I had asked the kind attendant inside where I could find the Gym, and she had given me a complex map that led me to it. She had also advised me to use the Charmeleon she'd noticed on my belt.

Finally, I found the Gym—past one of those irritating brambly plants, no less—tucked into a corner of the city. It had a green, vine-covered façade and was adorned by a tittering old man staring into a window on the side.

Avoiding the elder as best I could, I pulled open a glass door and stepped inside, before almost being blown back out again by the vicious aroma.

It smelled like a perfume shop, except multiplied by a hundred. Dozens of heady scents bombarded me from every direction. I wasn't looking forward to how I would smell after stepping out.

"Hey!" said a girl near the front. I noticed that, behind her, the old man was leering through the window. I pointed feebly and tried to make a comment, before I was overrun.

"You're a boy," she stated. Somehow she managed to make it sound like a nasty curse, being of my gender.

"Er… yeah," I said, feeling put off. "What about it?"

"You're here to get a badge, I assume?" the girl huffed. "All you boys—all you care about is battling and gung-ho and hoo-rah and beating up other people's Pokemon, isn't that right?"

I opened my mouth a smidge, though I wasn't sure what to say exactly. "Right!" said the girl, as if this finalized her opinion. She turned on her heel with a haughty "This way!"

I followed meekly, trying to avoid looking at any of the girls lining the walls of the Gym, since they were all looking at me like I was a plague. I hoped that being a guy wasn't contagious, because I felt these people would rip out my throat if it were.

"The lady of the Gym," announced my guide suddenly, "Erika."

Erika was a pretty woman of Asian descent with dark hair held back by a band. She held a flower-adorned paper fan in one hand and three Poke Balls in the other. "Hello," she said serenely.

"Erm… hi," I responded awkwardly. This woman's tone and temperament were so different from that of the others in the Gym that I wasn't entirely sure how to act.

"You're here for a battle?" she asked, fanning herself gently. I nodded, making a spore go up my nose. I looked like an idiot for a few seconds as I huffed, trying to get the thing out as female voices tittered and laughed mockingly behind hands.

Irritably, my face flushed with red, I managed to extract the spore. Erika gazed at me just as calmly as before as the tittering died away. "Yeah," I said boldly, "I am."

"Then prepare your Poke Ball," Erika instructed. I did as she said, and then we both sent out our Pokemon.

"Charmeleon!"

"Tangela!"

Out of my Poke Ball popped my fierce red-orange salamander, hunched in a battle stance. Out of hers popped an odd tangle of vines almost covering round white eyes, staring out into the world.

The four of us stood stock-still for a second. Then, finally, Erika broke the silence. "Tangela, use PoisonPowder!"

Charmeleon snarled, trying to dart out of the way of the Grass-type's purple spores. Unfortunately, one landed on the salamander's right arm. It immediately burned bright red and the Fire-type shrieked.

"Charmeleon!" I cried, "Use Ember!"

My Pokemon complied, leaping at the Tangela and hissing fire. The Grass-type tumbled backwards, its vines leaping with flame. Erika stood complacently, Poke Balls in hand. "Come back, Tangela!" she called, retrieving her Grass-type.

Charmeleon stood at the ready, wincing all the while at the throbbing of its arm. I was worried, but Charmeleon didn't seem to be weary at all.

Erika stood tall, gazing at my Pokemon. She looked for two beats, then said, "Heal it, Trainer. Now."

Shocked at the ferocity in her voice, I called Charmeleon to me. The salamander stumped over, holding out its arm for me to inspect. It was much worse than the Fire-type had let on—it was bright red, and a few boils had sprouted up. I hissed in sympathy, then hurriedly swung my pack off my back and reached in, grabbing a smooth bottle of Antidote.

"This may sting," I intoned bracingly to my Pokemon. It nodded, and then I sprayed. Charmeleon winced a bit, but in all seemed okay. The boils faded, and the Fire-type's arm looked a bit more like the red-orange I was used to.

Erika was staring at me. Finally, she said softly, "You seem to care for your Pokemon. Why, then, did you not notice its pain?"

I was taken aback. I looked at her a while, and she simply stood there. "I—" My throat was dry. All of a sudden, it seemed I wasn't sure how to form words. "I did," I said finally. My voice grew louder as I continued. "But Charmeleon has pride, and lots of it. If it does not show me it needs help, then I will allow it to continue to battle. I trust that Charmeleon knows its limits."

Erika gazed still more at me in silence. I waited, breath held. In the same soft tone she'd held when she posed her question, she said, "Would you like my badge, young man?"

A smattering of low comments and questions broke out among the girls along the walls. I couldn't decipher it, and so didn't know if this was a common thing. I decided to hazard a guess that it didn't.

"You mean, you'll just give it to me?" I asked, staring the Gym Leader straight in the eyes. Her gaze never wavered, but held mine solidly.

"Yes."

I stood, Charmeleon standing a bit dumbly at my side; its claws were limp against its red-orange legs. "But why?" I asked. I had a sneaking suspicion as to why she was offering up the badge so easily, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"If you need me to tell you why, then you don't know how much it is admired that you care so much for and know your Pokemon so well."

That confirmed my guess. I nodded, but then said, "I don't want to be given a badge just for my 'virtues,' or whatever. I want to earn it."

Erika nodded in an understanding way. "Then I believe our battle shall recommence."

A small part of me had wanted to accept the offer; I had to admit it to myself. The Grass-type Leader exuded an aura of confidence and power that didn't really befit her soft frame.

"Go! Vileplume!" Erika called, tossing out a different Poke Ball.

Out popped a dark Pokemon with a huge flower dominating its head. Its floppy limbs met floor as the Pokemon readied itself for battle. Erika nodded satisfactorily at her Pokemon's willingness to fight. "Vileplume, let's start with Sweet Scent!"

Charmeleon readied itself for a deadly attack that never came. Instead, a new scent was added to the myriad of aromas already in the building. This one, however, seemed particularly attractive to my Fire-type. Charmeleon sniffed about, distracted.

Erika smiled. "Vileplume and I await your attack," she said tauntingly. She was, was she? Quickly, my eyes scanned the room about the battlefield. Not much, though, would be of any help. A few hedges lined the walls near the enraptured girls, but I didn't exactly want Charmeleon to leap into one and hide. My eyes turned back to Erika, still waiting patiently.

"Charmeleon, let's hit it with an Ember!" I cried, and the salamander leapt into action, bounding forward across the battlefield on all fours. A harsh fire seared the Vileplume, and it cried out.

Erika looked calmly on. "Vileplume, PoisonPowder!"

I shouted to Charmeleon, "Not this time! Get out of the way!"

Charmeleon scrambled away, claws scrabbling on the smooth marble of the floor. The purple spores puffed out, but barely missed the Fire-type.

The Vileplume sucked in the surrounding air. Its flower puffed up, replenished, I realized, with spores.

A sudden thought, a dangerous, reckless thought, struck me. "Charmeleon!" I called. "Ember!"

But I wasn't looking at the opposing Pokemon. I was gazing at the bushes, and like a telepathic signal Charmeleon knew just what I wanted. A bolt of fire rushed out of its gaping jaw, setting the hedge along the wall ablaze.

Girls screamed, the old man looking in the window cried out in shock and sped off. Erika, however, simply looked a mixture of impressed and miffed.

"How easily you noticed that my Vileplume needed the spores in the air to recharge its attacks!" she called, staring at me as I started to sweat in the heat.

"And," I retorted, "that the smoke would overpower and kill any aromas and spores in the air!" A self-satisfied smirk slid onto my face, reminding me unpleasantly of Blue. I shook the thought out of my mind and turned back to the battle, where a dehydrated-looking Vileplume stood miserably in the center of the field.

"Well, seeing as most of Vileplume's attacks are now useless, I retrieve it," Erika said, tossing out Vileplume's Poke Ball. As the Grass-type was sucked into its spherical home, it seemed to give a sigh of relief.

"And now," Erika said grandly, "for my last Pokemon!" As she threw out her final Poke Ball, vines shot out of it and wrapped tightly around Charmeleon, constricting its breath. The Fire-type cried out in pain, anger, and shock as it was hoisted into the air by the vines and Erika's last Pokemon thudded to the floor.

"Victreebel," Erika finished, a satisfied smile on her face. It was rather ugly, a bell-shaped, yellowish Pokemon with droopy eyes, teeth ringing its top, and waving vines that were in the process of injuring my Pokemon.

"Charmeleon!" I cried out, but it was too late—Victreebel dropped the unconscious Pokemon to the ground. Charmeleon gave a feeble groan as the fire on its tail sputtered.

Desperately, I returned the Fire-type to its Poke Ball. I was thinking hard. What Pokemon would I be able to take down Victreebel with? It was obviously Grass-type—but what else could it be?

I whipped out my Pokedex, and glancing down at it saw the words VICTREEBEL: Grass/Poison. I wasted no time looking at a description; the types were all I had needed to know. Quickly, I deliberated on the Poke Balls at my belt. I had Electabuzz, but Electric-type attacks wouldn't do much to a Grass Pokemon… There was Beedril, but Poison on Poison wouldn't fare much better… Mankey? Fighting versus Poison was no better a bet… Gloom I didn't even consider.

It would have to be Beedril. It had the best chance. I unclipped the Ball from my belt, and the Bug-type inside buzzed with an eagerness to battle. I smiled a bit at that before I tossed my second Pokemon into the arena.

Immediately, however, its flight was staggered by the intense heat. With a start, I realized that the hedge was still on fire. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it, but I'd gotten used to the heat quickly and the girls weren't screaming anymore—which I realized the next second was because they'd all run out the door.

Victreebel and Erika, however, didn't seem to even know there was such a thing as fire. They stared solidly ahead, Victreebel's vines waving eerily. Beedrill stood staunchly but I had a fear that the Bug-type wouldn't last long.

"Beedrill," I said slowly, "Rage." Beedrill nodded, albeit shakily. Victreebel stood numbly as Beedrill darted up to it with surprising speed and jabbed it in its… gut(?) with a sharp needle. If the Grass-type felt pain, it didn't let on.

As Victreebel and my Pokemon battled, vines slapping at Beedrill in a vain attempt to strangle it, Beedril's Rage built. Finally, my Pokemon went berserk, stabbing hard in between Victreebel's flailing vines. It helped, too, that the old man had dashed in with stunning agility along with a brigade of firefighters, and the blaze had been put out.

With this final attack, Victreebel was felled. At this point, Beedril's rage was unbeatable and it swept Erika's remaining Pokemon away.

As Erika returned Tangela to its Poke Ball once more, she let on a soft smile. "I don't think I've ever simply been beaten by Rage before," she said.

"Me neither," I admitted. "Just seemed like the best tactic."

"Seems that it was, no?" Erika replied, her brow quirked at me. Her eyes glimmered with amusement, and I cracked a grin. She beckoned me to her and she bestowed me with the Rainbow Badge. I had expected something along the lines of a leaf, grass, or meadow badge, but I went along with it, accepting the multicolored badge without question.

Erika bid me goodbye after handing me a couple Poke to refill my recently vacated money pocket. I stepped out of the stifling Gym into the cool winds of the city and noted that the old man had not returned to his window station with a smile.

I had beaten another Gym Leader. I had earned my fourth badge. Yet there were still more challenges to face. More battles to be fought and won. More Pokemon to catch.

And I was ready for it.

AUTHOR'S(-o-)NOTE

So that's Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Q: Challenges chapter zero! A reviewer pointed out to me that I hadn't actually done anything about Celadon City or Erika, and I'd actually just jumped ahead to Saffron City. Well, there was the chapter to fix that error.

If you're here and you haven't already read through Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Quest, what are you doing here? This is part two of the overarching story, so if you want a better understanding of what all you just read, I suggest going there first. In my dumb opinion, it's a decent read and it's thirty kinda-short chapters if I'm being honest, so hopefully it won't take too much time out of your day.

As a very very side-note, I apologize if this chapter seemed a little formulaic and bland. I have a reason for that if you found it to be so: seeing as this chapter is something of a retcon and is forcing itself in between chapters in the original story that weren't exactly supposed to be having anything forced between them, I had to stay safe in the hope that I'm not destroying my own continuity too hard; and because I want to hit a sort of creative flow with later chapters and things that are more fun to write about: the Safari Zone, Giovanni in the last Gym, and of course the Pokemon League (though I'm still not sure how I'm going to handle that).

Oh, and another side note. Sorry I didn't do the Rocket Base—I kind of ended up incorporating that whole thing into Silph Co. anyway. And I screwed it all up by doing something funky with the Silph Scope that I don't remember.

Anyway. That wall of text over, see you guys whenever I end up putting up a proper chapter one for this thing.

I don't own Pokemon, by the way. If that wasn't obvious.

-Obelisk out


	2. Chapter 1

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen Q: Challenges

1

(-o-)

As I entered the large gym, a female voice emanated from the walls around me. As it started, I stared around wildly, bewildered.

"Welcome, Trainer," said the cool feminine voice. "I am Sabrina, Psychic Master of Saffron City." I scoffed at that—how much of an ego could you have? The voice, however, seemed undeterred by my thought and continued. "As you are here to earn my badge, step on the panel in front of you."

I stared ahead. There was no panel. I looked around the walls again, confused. The voice seemed to sigh in exasperation. "Look down again," it advised wearily. I looked. Where there had not been one before, there was a purple panel, pulsing with electronic power.

"I'm not sure about this," I told the voice, to no response. I gazed down at the panel with trepidation. It reminded me nastily of Silph Co., and Team Rocket. I stepped slowly forward. If I wanted the fifth badge, I told myself, I had to step on the panel. Newly resolute, I took another step forward, onto the pulsing square.

It was a dizzying sensation, worse than the one at Silph Co. It was like being tipped upside-down and being pulled inside out at the same time. I felt the sudden urge to retch.

Finally, it ended as abruptly as it started. I slumped forward, heaving, onto the ground. The voice sounded again, with an amused cadence, in my brain. "You must pass my test before you can reach me. Do so. I am waiting."

I groaned as I finally gazed up to see various purple panels littering the floor. I bit back a curse. It was a puzzle. A sadistic, taxing test. Again, Team Rocket swam to the front of my mind and a nasty expression slid onto my face.

I glanced around the chamber at three fresh panels. Already fighting to keep myself from being sick, I stepped on the nearest one.

It was rather worse the second time. It felt like I was skydiving, in a wild free-fall without a parachute or any form of control. Then, again, it was over.

I was back in the first room. With a roar of frustration and fear of the nausea to come, I wrenched myself to my feet.

Swooping vertigo overtook me again. I fought it off, wiping a bit of stray spittle off my lips.

"I hate you," I growled at the voice. I got no reply, but the coldly silent air told me that the voice, or perhaps Sabrina herself, got that a lot and it didn't get any easier to hear. I wondered vaguely why she didn't just change the stupid puzzle then before I pushed the thought out of my brain. It was of no use at the time.

As I stepped onto the first panel again, bracing myself, I heard the electronic doors behind me glide open. I landed in the second room once more, this time on my feet, and looked at the panel impatiently as, I was sure, the new patron was being accosted by the telepathic voice.

Finally, with an oddly guttural sound, Blue spun into existence on the panel. He fell over, almost chipping a tooth on the ground. Slowly, as though we were about to retch, Blue let his eyes slide up my form. Finally, his gaze met mine.

"Red," he said. He had tried to capture his usual chilly, collected tone, but had sounded more like he was fighting the urge to vomit.

"What are you doing?" I asked, kneeling to look into his taught face. "I thought you were going to Fuchsia first."

"I don't have a bike," he snapped irritably. "They wouldn't allow me on the road down."

"There's another way down, I think," I said, as he struggled to his feet. "Route 12?"

"Blocked," he snarled, having regained his feet and looking a bit green, "by a Snorlax."

"Yeah, well," I said smarmily, "They require a gentle touch."

He shot me a glance that told me clearly to shut up. Then he doubled over, clutching at his head. "Agggh," he groaned, "—stupid voice again—"

I gazed at Blue as the voice spoke to him. "A test?" he said finally, looking up at me. I nodded, and then gestured widely to the purple panels behind me. As he registered the daunting task ahead, his eyes widened in sudden panic. He swore so heartily that I took a step back.

Grumbling all the way, Blue stomped to the nearest one. Before I got the warning out of my mouth, he stepped on it. With a yelp, he was whipped out of existence. I could practically hear his screams his rage back in the first room.

Quickly, before Blue could return and take it all out on me, I dashed to a panel I hadn't tried. I tapped my foot warily on it, experienced a nauseating whirl of sensation, and was suddenly in a new room.

"Proceed," intoned Sabrina's voice in my head. I groaned. There were two panels in this room, and I had guesses as to where at least one of them led.

I stepped on one, and stood again in the first room. I bit back the storm of oaths I wanted to throw at the Saffron Gym Leader and her dumb telepathic voice, but held it inside. She probably was able to hear my tumultuous thoughts anyway, seeing as she could speak to me through them.

I repeated the pattern, ending up in the room I had most recently been in. I stepped on the panel I hadn't yet stepped on.

A howl of pain and rage escaped my lips before I could even think. All I registered was that I was in a room with about sixteen panels. I fell to my knees in despair with a soft clunk.

In a whirl of color and a yelp of surprise and pain, Blue was suddenly in existence and tripping over me, landing face first hard on the polished floor in front of me. Cursing my very existence and burning with humiliation, Blue growled over my stammered apologies and went to the farthest panel he could find before resolutely slamming his foot on it.

He was gone again. I gazed around the room, and the unfettered pulsing squares offered no comfort or advice. I decided not to step on the one Blue had just entered, and went for a panel near to the middle of the room.

I was back in the first room. I was truly tired of the whole ordeal at that point. On my belt, a Poke Ball rattled at me. Surprised, I looked down to see my Vileplume staring up at me. I unclipped the sphere and gazed into it close up. Vileplume was smiling gently at me, small puffs of spores disengaging from its petals. As I looked, my Grass-type Pokemon flexed its tiny biceps, delivering to me an encouraging look and a confident smile.

I replaced Vileplume's Poke Ball with a soft grin on my face. My Pokemon, at least, believed in me.

I entered the second room once more. At that point, I was pretty much used to the sensations of panel travel and stepped off the coinciding panel confidently. It was then I realized that there was still one panel in the second room I hadn't tried.

Sighing, resigned to the idea that the panel would lead me back once more to the entrance, I stepped on it.

The now familiar dashes of color and sickening swoops overtook me for a few seconds. I touched down in a new room to see a pair of violet eyes gazing at me.

I stared back. Slowly, the situation registered.

"Are you serious?" I yelped. The Gym Leader of Saffron City jumped, backing off. "It was—off the second room—what is your problem, lady?" Sabrina stood complacently, her eyes still on my face. It was then I realized that she was rather young, close to Blue's age or mine. A gently amused smile was lighting her face.

"I'm sorry for my tomfoolery," she said lightly. Her tone was so completely different from her telepathic voice that I was struck dumb for a second. Her violet eyes danced with the light of mischief.

"I believe you wanted a battle?" she asked, a smirk crooking her face. She tossed a Poke Ball into the air confidently, catching it with a snap.

"I—um." I said intelligently. She smiled slyly and stalked off, her dark hair flowing behind her. It was then I realized that I was somewhat taken with her.

"I can hear your thoughts, you know," she said amusedly over her shoulder. I blushed a horribly dark shade of red. "And I must say," she continued, "you are much more handsome than your thoughts would suggest."

I barely registered that she had just complimented me, instead blurting out, "I—uh, I don't hate you."

She looked back over her shoulder, her tilted smirk still on her face. "Trust me, I know."

Finally, she turned around. We were now standing on opposite sides of the battlefield. "Ready?" she asked.

Suddenly clear-headed, I nodded. "Ready," I parroted, already clutching a Poke Ball. The Pokemon within rattled with excitement.

"Abra!" Sabrina called, tossing her Poke Ball with the flick of a wrist. Out of her Poke Ball popped a small fox, in a sitting position and with its eyes closed. Its arms hung limply down to the ground.

"Beedrill!" I called, sending out my Bug-type. The hornet danced about the battlefield, its webbed wings a blur. It hissed something of a battle cry, and its drills whirred. Abra sat stoically, unmoving but for its breathing.

"Um… okay," I muttered to myself. Sabrina stood waiting, a glint in her eye. She had something up her sleeve, and I knew it, but I went for the offensive.

"Twineedle!" I called. Beedrill nodded quickly, then flitted across the field. The hornet Pokemon savagely crushed both drills into the fox Pokemon. Instead of taking any force, Abra simply vanished.

"What?" I cried before I could stop myself. My Pokemon was looking about wildly for the little fox.

"Behind you," said Sabrina, so softly I could barely hear, and on instinct I whirled about. There it was, in all its sleeping glory. Then, again, it had vanished. A sickening crunch behind me told me an attack had just hit Beedrill. I winced, and turned around again, my face burning. I wasn't going to make that mistake again.

Sabrina was smiling a coy smile, knowing the internal humiliation I was going through. I tried in vain to shut my thoughts off—I wasn't fond of people digging around in my brain.

Meanwhile, Beedrill and Abra were in an intense game of hide and seek. Beedrill would swipe at the tan fox, the Psychic-type would spirit itself away, and Beedrill would search wildly about until it found Abra, and swipe at it again. Occasionally, Abra would manage to get behind Beedrill fast enough to smack it about with a Psychic attack.

Beedrill wouldn't help. I quickly recalled the Bug-type to its Poke Ball, and then sorted desperately through my options. I was angrily aware that Sabrina was viewing the image of each of my Pokemon as it flashed by. A sudden idea struck me.

I grasped a random Poke Ball at my belt. Turning away as I did so, I tossed it out into the battlefield. I had absolutely no clue what Pokemon was battling. I had no clue what it was doing.

I heard intermittent Pokemon cries as a battle raged behind me, and I covered my ears so as not to accidentally hear one of my Pokemon's noises and know which it was. If I knew, I would subconsciously bring up a slew of information about it—moves, timing, technique, even its favorite food and color. I didn't want to give Sabrina any of that information.

"It is over," Sabrina's voice sounded in my head. Different as it was, I now heard a tinge of the amusement that seemed to lace Sabrina's every verbal word.

I turned, letting my hands fall to the Poke Balls at my belt in case my Pokemon had not been the victor. I needn't have worried.

Vileplume stood in the center of the battlefield, huffing with the exhaustion of exertion. Abra lay, docile as ever, on the ground, unconscious. Its form wavered as if it weren't sure whether to spirit away or not. Sabrina looked impressed, and I noticed uncomfortably that she was baldly staring into my face. I looked away, sure that there was a blush rising to my cheeks.

"You've done very well," she said.

"Wasn't really me," I mumbled to the floor, as Vileplume plodded over to me. "If it weren't for Vileplume here, I would have lost this battle."  
"Look at me," Sabrina telepathically intoned. I did, and in doing so realized she was exceedingly close to my face. How she'd covered the distance so quickly and quietly I didn't know.

"Hello," I murmured, taking a step back. Thankfully, I didn't step on the panel, though it was only about half a foot from my shoe.

"That you concede your victory to your Pokemon is admirable," Sabrina said plainly, her eyes on mine. "You are worthy of the Marsh Badge."

"That's it?" I asked, slightly taken aback. "Just Abra?"  
"Just Abra," she returned, tossing its Poke Ball into the air casually. "People don't usually figure out that their Pokemon are more trustworthy than their own thoughts. You, however, reasoned that out exceptionally quickly."

I let off a small smile. Sabrina's eyes searched my face. "That doesn't make you proud," she observed. "Just thankful to your Pokemon."

She got a bit closer. The heat coming off my face was palpable. "You are a very admirable person."

Butterfrees exploded into being in my stomach. Her enchantingly violet eyes took in mine a second longer, then turned away at the sound of a new arrival.

"UghmyGod, if I have to go into another of those stupid panels—"

Blue stumbled into being out of the panel, nearly bowling me over. He slowly drank in the scene. "Oh—oh, hello," he said to Sabrina, his cool voice again absent. He seemed a bit unhinged by the panels.

"Hello," she said, and with a burst of pleasure I noticed that her voice was not nearly as warm as it had been with me. "You're here for my badge, yes?"  
Blue nodded, looking as though he were repressing a sick feeling rising in his throat. "He already got it, I suppose," Blue said, jabbing a thumb in my direction. I nodded.

"No, he hasn't," said Sabrina. She gazed over at a small cabinet against the far wall, her eyes glowing supernaturally. The cabinet opened by itself, a badge was extracted by some invisible force. The shiny Marsh Badge floated to Sabrina's outstretched hand. She turned to me, her eyes their normal shade once more.

I took the badge she offered, gazing at her. There was no fear in my gaze, only wonder at the Gym Leader's abilities. Psychic Master of Saffron indeed.

She gave me a swift smile, then turned to Blue. "If you'll excuse me," she said to him, even though he looked as though he wanted to sprint away, "I must heal my Pokemon." She strode to the panel and faded out of existence.

"That was freaky," Blue confided in me. I knew he was referring to the Gym Leader's telekinesis.

"Cool, though," I said in a low voice, a bashful grin on my face. The expression didn't leave my face even by the time I'd exited the Gym, heading for the Pokemon Center—and hopefully, soon, the Fuchsia City Pokemon Gym.


End file.
